Oiled birds cleaned up and sent home; research studies launched

Citizenship has three definitions: who or what we are, what we believe, and what we do, English explains: “The service-learning projects provide teachable moments, opportunities for reflection and the means to gain experience in community building.’” This is the fifth year California 4-H servicelearning grants have been awarded; distributions have ranged from $5,500 to $14,900 per year and are a gift from the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation. Proposed projects must contain aspects of community service and education; address significant environmental, economic and/or social issues affecting California’s youth, families and communities; and involve collaboration with other community-based organizations. Grants for four other service-learning projects were awarded in 2007. Another Siskiyou County 4-H group received $1,000 to organize a “senior prom” for elderly residents. In Sacramento County, a 4-H club has $2,000 to provide environmental education and outdoor living experience to 1,000 elementary students from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. In San Mateo County, members of the Belmont 4–H Clothing Project were awarded $233 to create dyed-silk scarves for a local hospital. Also, $500 of seed money was awarded for surely the most ambitious youth service-learning idea ever, the 4-H Million Trees project. The Pacifica 4–H club is developing plans to plant a million trees across the United States to combat global warming; their estimated budget for the project is $1 million. High-school freshman Laura Webber saw Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth with her father last winter and was galvanized to do something; she and the other club members worked out the details. Although the Pacifica group will plant some trees, the aim of the project is to enlist the help of the 90,000 other 4-H clubs in the country, a total of 7 million youth. Each club has to plant only 12 trees to achieve the goal (www.4hmilliontrees.org). Engaging in public projects that serve the community, or the whole world, in tangible, recognizable and important ways motivates young people (see page 40). The projects inspire their adult leaders also. Todd Ellorin, the Siskiyou Woodworking project leader says, “These kids want to know where the lumber is coming from and how the project affects the environment. I really learn from them.” The Siskiyou Land Trust listened to Boerger’s new bench ideas “and made some changes,” Boerger says. Ellorin says he will discuss with the group a way to respect the client’s wishes and also try something new. That’s another skill that’s definitely useful for the adult world. — Hazel White T 58,000-gallon oil spill in San Francisco Bay on Nov. 7, 2007, was the worst in a decade, and weeks later rescuers were still collecting coated birds from beaches. The oiled birds — primarily grebes, scaups and surf scoters — were brought to the Cordelia facility of the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, which comprises 25 organizations and a dozen facilities from Crescent City to San Diego, and is directed by UC Davis wildlife veterinarian Michael Ziccardi. Saving oiled birds is far from a sure thing. “They arrive cold and weak because oil coats their feathers, forcing them to come out of the water to survive,” Ziccardi says. Many die before they can even be cleaned, and more die in the rehabilitation pools prior to release. By the end of November, more than a thousand birds had been collected, nearly 800 had been washed, and more than 340 had been rehabilitated and released in Tomales and Half Moon bays, which lie beyond the reach of the oil spill. Nearly 1,750 birds were collected dead, and about 600 died or were euthanized in captivity. The Cordelia center — called the San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center — is a 12,000-square-foot, $2.7 million facility capable of caring for between 1,000 and 1,500 sick birds, and is co-managed by the International Bird Rescue Center. The Oiled Wildlife Care Network is funded by the California Department of Fish and Game, with interest on the $50 million California Oil Spill Response Trust Fund built from assessments on the oil industry.